Behind the scenes series#1: ACS Canberra Team Spotlight

^Highlights

If you have read the ACS "Canberra 2022 Year in Review" article, you will notice that the branch achieved a lot last year. In addition to the business as usual in providing value to our members, we also secured a new initiative in delivering 12-month supporting women transitioning to an ICT Career program and opened the new ACS Canberra Hub.  

But sometimes, we work hard to provide a community for our local tech members and forget to share who we are and what we do to let you connect more with us; hence, we are pleased to be running a series of articles introducing our staff and BEC members.

• This week, we spoke with Dr Vicki Gardiner, ask her what motivates her day-to-day work at ACS.

Get to know Dr Vicki Gardiner, ACS Canberra Manager.

Vicki has been with the ACS for a touch over two years, having joined in September 2020.  Her role is to lead the ACS staff in developing initiatives, in partnership with the BEC, to provide opportunities for members to come together to build networks and capability.  Vicki is also responsible for raising the profile and relevance of the ACS in our region through building and strengthening relationships with key stakeholders including the ACT Government and ACT parliamentarians.

Even with a diverse employment background, Vicki has always stayed close to her passion of science and technology.  Having started her career as an Australian Research Council funded academic, and worked on a number of education based projects for the Royal Australian Chemical Institute as a volunteer, Vicki knows the importance of STEM education and ongoing professional development as an enabler for opportunities.  This passion is reflected in her success in commissioning and implementing the first Tasmanian Engineering Workforce Development plan and the recent ACS Supporting women transitioning to an ICT career program.

Prior to coming to ACS, Vicki was the Tasmanian General Manager of Engineers Australia and also spent time as the Director of Policy and Research at Medicines Australia.  These two roles focused on advocating on behalf of members to improve the opportunities for the sectors.  Recently, she has represented the ACS at the ACT government Skills Industry consultation and the third ACT Womens Strategy consultation.  She is also building relationships with Canberra Cyber Hub, WIC and AIIA.

Vicki said she enjoys working with teams to develop strategies to provide value to members.  Some of the initiatives she is working on with the ACS Canberra team and BEC include establishing a Riverina regional group, which had its first meeting last year, a network for international members and an emerging professionals group.  She says that a strong professional association is one that has a strong member base as well as a strong pipeline of members, and to build this requires a program that meets the needs of each member group.  She is very excited and looking forward to translating the new ACS strategy to provide a Community that members are proud of and that brings the tech sector together to have an impact for our region. 

But what does Vicki do in her spare time?  She is still connected to her chemistry community as the President of Commonwealth Chemistry which champions equal opportunity for all, drives innovation and promotes excellence in the chemical sciences for the benefit of Commonwealth nations and their people.  She is also enjoying getting back into tennis after COVID-19 and building her roots in Canberra now her two daughters are at university in Brisbane and Melbourne.